Historical Context

The majority of Indigenous peoples in the Americas have used tobacco since time immemorial. The Europeans first contact with tobacco in the Americas happened on October 12, 1492, the day Columbus first bumped into Turtle Island (the Americas).

There is a myth that Columbus was looking for India and that is why First Nations/Native Americans/Indigenas are called Indians. However, this is one of the greatest myths that has been told. At the time that Columbus came to Sacred Turtle Island (The Americas), India was called Hindustan not India. Therefore, Columbus was not looking for India. There are maps available from 1492 that back this fact up. The name Indian, instead, comes from the name that Europeans gave to the original inhabitants Niños in Dios which means children of God. They used this name because they found the peoples who lived here to be close to God or godlike. There are archives in Spain that document this information. As time went on people did not use the full name Niños in Dios but rather shortened it to In Dios – of God. As time went on the British colonized Hindustan and the name was changed to India. In Spanish the name for Indians is Indios which sounds exactly like In Dios and from here the fabrication of the story in regards to Columbus looking for India and the original inhabitants thus being named Indians. This myth serves history well. It helps rationalize some of the genocide and atrocities committed on First Nations/Native American/Indigenas since to acknowledge that they were children of God would not condone what occurred.

As Columbus and his crew raised the flag of Spain to claim possession of what is now known as the Americas, in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, the Indigenous people presented them with gifts of welcome to their territory. Among these gifts were dried, yellowish, aromatic leaves of an unknown plant. The sailors did not know what these leaves were, felt they had no use for them, and threw their gifts away. After all, they were looking for gold. Years later, they realized that they had indeed found “gold” in these leaves.

As more and more sailors and merchants came into the Americas, tobacco became more popular and within a century the use of tobacco had spread to every part of the world. Its spread continues on today and nothing else from anywhere has been so widely used as tobacco.

In the 1600’s English settlers in what is now known as the United States were impoverished and realized that there was a potential for profit if they grew and exported tobacco. The first known shipment of tobacco was made to England in 1613. Because tobacco became a fad and was seen as fashionable it was easy to tax and became a money making endeavour in England. Tobacco for profit and high taxation of tobacco continues on to the present, and interestingly enough Canada, based on its population, uses more manufactured cigarettes than any other major industrialized nation.

It was the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company who first gave tobacco and alcohol in “gift-giving” ceremonies to attract and promote trade with First Nation peoples. However, First Nation peoples recognized the difference between the tobacco they grew and that of the traders. They continued to use the tobacco they grew for ceremonial purposes and began smoking the imported tobacco of the traders in a non-ceremonial way.

After colonization, the signing of treaties, and the Indian Act the Canadian government banned traditional ceremonies and this made it virtually impossible for the passing down of the traditional ways of growing and using ceremonial tobacco.

Forced assimilation and residential schools also had an impact on tobacco use by First Nation peoples, as they adopted and participate in European practices: one being smoking.